Archbishop Amel Nona has been elected as the new Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church on Sunday, April 12, following the resignation of his predecessor, Cardinal Luis Raphaël Sako, announced on March 10. The new leader has chosen the name Paul III and will request ecclesiastical communion from the Pope.
Vatican News
Archbishop Amel Nona was elected today, April 12, as the new Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
The appointment took place in the context of the Synod of the Chaldean Church of Baghdad, gathered in Rome from April 9 to 15, following the resignation of Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako on March 10.
The same assembly had been received in audience by Pope Leo XIV on April 10, and it will be the newly elected patriarch himself—who has chosen the name Paul III—who will ask the Pope for ecclesiastical communion.
Confidence in strengthening unity
The synodal fathers, as stated in a note released by the Chaldean Church, “express their confidence that this ministry will help strengthen the faithful in their faith, reinforce their unity, and renew the Church’s mission in bearing witness to the Gospel.”
Born in 1968 in Alqosh, in northern Iraq, Nona is a prominent figure within the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Since 2009, he has served as Archbishop of Mosul, leading the local Christian community during a particularly difficult period, including the rise of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 and the resulting displacement of thousands of faithful.
